In a passing league, it's fair to question how effective Griffen can be when dropping, or in space. Especially in our base formation. Stiff hips for the linebacker position are an area that require addressing, despite his talent level and explosion at the defensive end position. Also, learning the intricacies of a cover-2 system when coverage has primarily been an afterthought throughout his entire football career will be a challenge.

Unless he's primarily being used as a pass rusher, I don't know how Everson Griffen will ever become an every-down linebacker. Don't get me wrong, though, I'd love for him to prove otherwise. We're that weak at linebacker._________________

"When a team outgrows individual performance and learns team confidence, excellence becomes a reality."
--Joe Paterno.

Griffen doesnt need to be an every down LB, a term that is starting to become overused in todays NFL (for 4-3 defenses). A team can really only have 1 every down LB, maybe 2, depending upon the preference of nickel vs dime packages. Basically, the two every down LBs for the Vikes will be Greenway and Henderson. No need for one more every down LB, unless were playing 4-3 in passing situations when we should be playing 4-2. Heck, my ideal 3rd down defense would be a 3-2 scheme with Griffin as one of the blitzing LBs, who is moved around the formation and using 3 Safetys and 3 CBs. Play deep halves with the Safetys, have a Safety roaming the "alley" in the Cover 2, and have one LB blitzing and the other spying the Rb and/or Qb.

I love this move; Griffen will be a great fit at WLB. It will be a good battle between Erin, Everson and Jasper for the 2nd and 3rd LB spots after Greenway. I would love to see Griffen at WLB and Erin at MLB.

I love this move; Griffen will be a great fit at WLB. It will be a good battle between Erin, Everson and Jasper for the 2nd and 3rd LB spots after Greenway. I would love to see Griffen at WLB and Erin at MLB.

We really needed Griffen at LB, even just for depth purposes.

I hope this reflects how the team feels towards D'Aundre Reed potentially moving up in the DE rotation if Griffen is getting more work at OLB.

I love this move; Griffen will be a great fit at WLB. It will be a good battle between Erin, Everson and Jasper for the 2nd and 3rd LB spots after Greenway. I would love to see Griffen at WLB and Erin at MLB.

We really needed Griffen at LB, even just for depth purposes.

I hope this reflects how the team feels towards D'Aundre Reed potentially moving up in the DE rotation if Griffen is getting more work at OLB.

I love this move; Griffen will be a great fit at WLB. It will be a good battle between Erin, Everson and Jasper for the 2nd and 3rd LB spots after Greenway. I would love to see Griffen at WLB and Erin at MLB.

We really needed Griffen at LB, even just for depth purposes.

I hope this reflects how the team feels towards D'Aundre Reed potentially moving up in the DE rotation if Griffen is getting more work at OLB.

I also expect Ballard to get reps at LDE

I could see Guyton being the 4th and final DE to make the roster. Similar to how Reed made the team last year. Ballard could be looked at as a DE, though Allen and Robison both seem to play a lot and take very few snaps off. In the event of an injury, I would imagine that the vikes would consider moving Griffen back into a starting DE role and just going with its nickel package most of the game.

I love this move; Griffen will be a great fit at WLB. It will be a good battle between Erin, Everson and Jasper for the 2nd and 3rd LB spots after Greenway. I would love to see Griffen at WLB and Erin at MLB.

We really needed Griffen at LB, even just for depth purposes.

I hope this reflects how the team feels towards D'Aundre Reed potentially moving up in the DE rotation if Griffen is getting more work at OLB.

I also expect Ballard to get reps at LDE

It was reported in the off-season that Ballard had his weight up to 295 lbs. Which isn't a surprise because he was physically weak coming into the league. He is likely too big now for DE.

I love this move; Griffen will be a great fit at WLB. It will be a good battle between Erin, Everson and Jasper for the 2nd and 3rd LB spots after Greenway. I would love to see Griffen at WLB and Erin at MLB.

We really needed Griffen at LB, even just for depth purposes.

I hope this reflects how the team feels towards D'Aundre Reed potentially moving up in the DE rotation if Griffen is getting more work at OLB.

I also expect Ballard to get reps at LDE

It was reported in the off-season that Ballard had his weight up to 295 lbs. Which isn't a surprise because he was physically weak coming into the league. He is likely too big now for DE.

That may be the issue. If Griffen is down to 255 pounds to play OLB, the ability for him to bulk back up to play DE might be very limited. Its at the point where the team has to commit to either position, and with Griffin losing 20 pounds, i doubt they can go back at this point.

However, a 255 pound 4-3 DE isnt completely unheard of. Look at Robert Mathis, Dwight Freeney and Osi Umenyiora. Premier defensive players, while a liability in the run game, are still effective players overall.

That may be the issue. If Griffen is down to 255 pounds to play OLB, the ability for him to bulk back up to play DE might be very limited. Its at the point where the team has to commit to either position, and with Griffin losing 20 pounds, i doubt they can go back at this point.

However, a 255 pound 4-3 DE isnt completely unheard of. Look at Robert Mathis, Dwight Freeney and Osi Umenyiora. Premier defensive players, while a liability in the run game, are still effective players overall.

Really wish I knew the article - ESPN1500 puts them up so fast - but Fraizer recently said they like their DE's in the 265 lbs. range. Everson is reportedly around 258 lbs. even after the weight loss so he is still pretty big even for a linebacker.

Still my opinion is folks are getting carried away thinking Griffen is going to be strictly a linebacker. When in reality the coaches want him to get use to playing without his hand in the ground. Then when they bring him in and use him in packages that line him up on the defensive line but have him dropping back into coverage that he will be comfortable operating in space.

That will give the defense the flexibility to actually use 3-4 looks even with us sticking to the base 4-3. I know I certainly would not mind seeing the team use the Tampa 2 but on 3rd and long switch it up. Stay in Cover-2 coverage but bring in Everson and have him fall back into coverage more often to give offenses something else to think about.

For some reason he is working with the 2nd and 3rd team as LB. He has clearly the best player on those teams.

However he is getting first team reps at DT and DE in different formations. The way he is being used suggests that Griffen will have all the opportunity to elevate his game._________________Perra For President

For some reason he is working with the 2nd and 3rd team as LB. He has clearly the best player on those teams.

However he is getting first team reps at DT and DE in different formations. The way he is being used suggests that Griffen will have all the opportunity to elevate his game.

Its kind of surprising to hear that Griffen is spending so much time at DE and DT despite the staff wanting him to cut 20 pounds. Perhaps putting him on the 2nd team as a LB is more appropriate given that he is probably raw at the position. As camp progresses, maybe he moves to first team at LB. I just want to see Everson Griffen as one of the team's 3 down contributors. If that means playing LB on run downs and moving to the Dline on passing downs so be it.

A: He’s been kind of sporadic. He’s had some good moments and some other moments where we’d like him to come a little faster. We’re going to give him a little time and see how he does throughout this week and even in the San Francisco game. Then we’ll sit down and evaluate things after the game. But, he’s showing sparks at time that he can get this done at the linebacker position. We’re also keeping him in our third down package as you guys have seen in practice where we’ll have him rushing as well. He’s shown that he has a chance at the linebacker position so we’ll continue to monitor this week and then we’ll sit down and talk about it after the San Francisco game.